Does the past or the future make us who we are?

Dear reader of my blog,

"We will find that hope, although rooted in the past and acted out in the present, receives its energy from the future." So wrote one Andrew D. Lester, a quote which I heard cited in a theological symposium here in Helsinki last week. But what if the future is unreal, what if it stops at some point, as our materialistic, closed system of modernity teaches? Yet somehow, we do receive inspiration, all of us have the ability to take heed of a purpose for going on.

So what if things are the opposite of what we think? What if a glorious, common future, not one's own individual past (hurts or achievements), defines who we truly are? Regret or pride would not need to be your lot. Although the yearning for a great hope is ingrained in human nature (a yearning for more than one can see), nevertheless the message that the future is actually really great for all, without an end, seems too wonderful to suppose.

Yet there is an anchor, something that can root the unforeseen hopes of our heart within the very fabric of reality. The faith of Mary, a virgin girl, already conceived - in a mysterious, but surprisingly material way - that which was presumed to exist only in the future. The eschatological Human Being - who we dream to be, but desperately know that we are not - is already on the move.

As father Aidan Kimel writes on his blog: "Perhaps we might even say that the risen and glorified Son ordains Mary Immaculate to be his Mother from the future of his Kingdom. Predestination thus becomes postdestination." What if all of our lives are postdestined? Our future, an unmerited gift, liberates us and gives us the free will to become who we truly are. And whatever binds us to the past of a pointless future, that has already been crucified by Jesus Christ.

So there's something for you to ponder. Yours truly, Petri Samuel +